Monday, December 15, 2014

Too grim for me

There are not too many movies that are too grim for me. I think I can tolerate gloomier fare than most people although I find it easier to read gloomy books than to see such movies. But tonight I bailed on OUT OF THE FURNACE. I put an hour in before escaping.

I think this was probably a good movie but if I find no hope, if the people are too evil, if the good men never win, I eventually either turn off or take off.

What movie was too grim for you? (This is not a criticism of the quality of the film but just my tolerance for it)

Hotel Rwanda was a good enough movie to see me through it. Likewise SCHINDLER'S LIST. I might stick with true stories longer than fictional ones. GS I more often bail because I am offended rather than depressed.

I can't think of any I've bailed on, though there are some I won;t see again. (SEVEN comes to mind.)

Odd thing here is, I liked OUT OF THE FURNACE a lot. I grew up not 30 miles from where most of the story takes place, so it didn't seem all that grim to me. Seemed more like people doing what they had to do. The only character I had no empathy for was Woody Harrelson.

To me, it's less about grimness and more about hopelessness. If there's a sense that hope is lost (or never existed to begin with), I just can't stay with the movie/book. I don't mind downbeat endings, but there has to be some element of brightness to keep me going.

We stuck it out to the bitter end. The setting was familiar to my wife, who grew up in the Ohio Valley. I like Christian Bale and the rest of the cast but faulted the script for not doing more with the material than to go for the shock value in the subject matter. You were wise to bail.

FURY was too grim for me. Just unrelenting. The only tiny bit of humor was when the tank crew was cheering up the new guy by explaining that in their first battle, Brad Pitt's character "...shit his pants full!"

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About Me

Patricia Abbott is the author of more than 125 stories that have appeared online, in print journals and in various anthologies. She is the author of two print novels CONCRETE ANGEL (2015) and SHOT IN DETROIT (2016)(Polis Books). CONCRETE ANGEL was nominated for an Anthony and Macavity Award in 2016. SHOT IN DETROIT was nominated for an Edgar Award and an Anthony Award in 2017. A collection of her stories I BRING SORROW AND OTHER STORIES OF TRANSGRESSION will appear in 2018.